Two historical war novels (WW I and WW II) that nobody should miss

I stumbled across both of these books and was blown away by them. City of Thieves by David Benioff is set during the siege of Leningrad. It's brutal, funny and deeply moving.

Flanders by Patricia Anthony is set in the trenches of WW I. This was such a fine novel--writing, characterizations, atmosphere--that I was astonished when I searched out other books by her to find she is mostly a writer of science fiction. Now, I do occasionally read Sci-Fi, but it has to be really good to hold me. If her other books are anywhere near as good as Flanders, I'll read them. Nothing sci-fi about Flanders, though some have felt that the touch of second sight the protagonist has makes it Science Fantasy. I disagree. Though integral to the book, it's still a minor point.

You won't be disappointed in either book if fine writing is what holds you.

For World War II, I always liked Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy. She wrote that everything that happened to her characters really happened to some person, somewhere, during the war. The research she did for it was awesome, yet the novel was never teach-y. The characters were fully-developed and the narrative flowed.

A long time ago I read an historical novel about World War II called The Big War by Anton Myrer. I thought it was excellent. Good characters and what seemed to me realistic portrayals of people and events. I've never heard of or seen the book since, and we're talking at least 25 years. Does anyone else know of this book? I definitely recommend it.

I've just finished it and thought it was very well written. Interesting characters, realistic combat description and a sophisticated general point of view.

I would recommend

World War II: War of the Rats by David Robbins

A story of the battle of Stalingrad. Specifically the duel between Russia's and Germany's best snipers

World War I : Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

A part romance/part military book about a young English man in WWI. Both aspects of this novel are well done.

For some reason the touchstones don't seem to be working.

World War 11..The Narrow Road To The Deep North by Australian writer Richard Flanagan. Harrowing scenes re the building of the Burma Railway and the prisoner of war conditions, jumps back and forth to prewar Australia. This novel won the Man Booker 2014.

World War 1 ..Fly Away Peter by another Australian author David Malouf, again an Australian setting with a special friendship between two men who join up in the trenches, a very short read.

World War 11 .. The Great World by David Malouf, both of these novels are award winners.

>1 laceyvail: Thumbs up for City of Thieves; quite memorable.

WWI -- A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin and Sebastien Japrisot's A Very Long Engagement. The first novel takes place in Italy (Italian Alps) and the second takes place in France; it's a superb anti-war novel and the most doggedly determined love story ever written. Of course, everyone should read All Quiet on the Western Front.

WWII -- The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat and The Bridge Over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle. The French are unflinching story tellers. These are two novels about astounding courage that take courage to read. I, too, wanted to recommend "Narrow Road" because I'd like to see more people read this complicated book. But it's more of a character driven novel than a war story.

WWII -- Of Love and Other Wars by Sophie Hardach. A novel about British members of the Society of Friends and their varying responses to, and involvement in, the war, intertwined with the story of a Jewish family.

Echoing earlier messages about books on the Great War here:

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks (read earlier this year and was amazed)
Flanders by Patricia Anthony. Given the plot of this book, it's easy to see how Anthony made the crossover from science fiction to historical fiction.

No one, so far has mentioned one of the best books on the pacific theatre, and thus I advance "The Thin Red Line", because it is a book that does truly cover the effect of fighting on the soldiers who did it up on the line, the careerism among the officers, the social structure of the USa at the time, and the difficulty of getting anything done once the bullets start flying. It seems as close to the real thing as the soldiers of my acquaintance, (Three), were willing to read. The author is dead now, James Jones, but at one time he had a good reputation especially for his first novel "From Here to Eternity" which is also about peace-time army life.
I would also like to put in a word for "Execution" by Colin McDougall, a story of the Canadians fighting in Italy, and the reader is led from one execution, that of some Italian soldiers, as a casual war crime, to finally an execution of a Canadian soldier, "Jonesy", rather a favourite with his company. And as a background the other casual executions...of manoeuvres, of bystanders, of everyone's consciences as the war grinds everyone down. Great book.

Nicholas Monsarrat, RNVR, author of "The Cruel Sea" a good book about convoy duty, was born in Liverpool, in 1910, and died in London, 1979. He was not French, as your posting seemed to indicate. "The Bridge" is a bit surrealist for a WWII book, IMO.

There are some great war novels out there and my favourite has always been HMS Ulysses by Alistair McLean; but in recent years those reading The Book Thief by Zusak wouldn't go far wrong.